A Second Chance At Life
by AdmiralSilver
Summary: A boy wakes up in the middle of a forest and it begins to rain. He doesn't know who or what he is until he meets a girl who takes care of him and his memories begin to return. But can he deal with his destiny? Includes a funny Seeker from the library.
1. Reborn

Notes: This story is dedicated to banina

Notes: This story is dedicated to banina. It is a mini series and may be a one-shot. Thanks for reading!

All I remembered was falling. Falling downward toward a light. Then there was nothingness… The next minute I was lying on the ground, face down in the dirt. _I'm okay,_ I thought. But then I realized…

I didn't know who I was.

Next to me lay a wolf, breathing heavily. It looked up at me, its eyes filled with emotion. I had no idea who I was, but it seemed to. It licked my face.

I looked around. I was in a forest and had landed in a large puddle of mud. My head hurt, my sides ached, and I felt a throbbing pain in my leg. I looked at the wolf thing, and it looked back at me. I stood up, and it stood up. Obviously it wasn't going to leave me alone. There was no one else in the woods, just the two of us.

_What am I doing here? Who am I? _I thought, _I don't even know what my name is!_

I forced myself to calm down. Obviously I had hit my head. Maybe I was suffering from amnesia. But for now, I had to find shelter. _At least it isn't raining…_

Just as I thought this, it started to rain. The clouds opened and let their moisture fall to the earth. I was instantly drenched as the water fell through the trees and dripped of the leaves. _If I don't find somewhere to take shelter, I could freeze. _

Next to me the wolf whimpered. It suddenly grabbed my arm softly in its mouth and began to pull me. I had no idea what was going on, so I pulled my arm back. It looked at me quizzically, and then began to pull on my clothes. I realized it wasn't going to give up, so I followed it as it ran through the trees. The rain was getting harder and the sound of it falling on the leaves was a thunderous pattering. By the time the forest cleared I was soaked and shivering. _I could catch a cold…_ I thought. The wolf looked forward and I saw a barn like structure. _At least it might be warm…_ I thought as the wolf ran ahead.

Inside were animals. Pig chickens and other animals used for meat. I wondered why I knew the names of the animals and not my own. As the pigs squealed, I lay down in a pile of hay. The wolf curled up next to me and kept me warm as I slept.

I woke a few hours later to the sound of a gasp. I opened my eyes and looked up. There was a girl looking at me in horror. I realized that she was probably shocked to see someone sleeping in the hay in her barn. I tried to say something to her, but coughed instead.

"You poor thing…" She said, her voice was kind and loving. I imagined what I must look like, covered in mud and twigs and soaked. "What's your name?"

I opened my mouth to tell her, but then realized…

_I don't know._


	2. Memories or Nightmares?

Notes: This story is for banina

Notes: This story is for banina! And supercdogg95! I want to thank you two for being my biggest fans and friends! I have decided to make this at least 7 chapters because of you two, but keep in mind I need to work on my other story too. Please bear with my craziness! If you are a complete fantasy nut like me you'll love this mini series!

Yes, I have no life. But I can write and imagine one.

_I was in a forest. I was running for my life. Next to me was the wolf, panting as it sprinted. I looked over my shoulder and gasped at what I saw. I wished I hadn't looked. A giant black centipede was chasing me, its many legs scuttling faster and faster. "GIVE ME YOUR FACE!" I heard it yell. I looked back ahead saw a space between a huge tree just big enough to crawl into. I crawled in just as the monster slammed into the tree. It tried in vain to reach me, but I had crawled farther into the hole. I heard it trying to reach me, screaming in agony…_

"Hello?" The girl asked, "I asked you what your name was."

I looked up at her. Her voice had snapped my attention back to the real world.

"What?"

"I said, what's your name?"

I pondered this for a moment, not sure what to answer. I had to have a name, everyone did, but I just couldn't remember. It finally struck me how odd it was.

"I don't know." I said as matter-of-factly as I could. She looked at me like I was nuts.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I think I hit my head or something." I answered groggily, "I woke up in the forest and it started to rain…" I trailed off.

"I'll go get my parents." She said, she ran a few steps, but then turned back.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I don't know if I should, they might not be happy about someone sleeping in the barn. Can you stay here until I figure out how to tell them?" She asked.

"I don't know," I answered. "I have a lot of places to go…"

She laughed. It was like music.

"Stay here, I'll get you some food."

I watched her as she left the barn. She hadn't even noticed the wolf lying next to me, which struck me as an odd thing. How could she not see it? It was right there!

_"Are you okay?"_

I turned around; there was no one there.

"Who said that?" I asked.

_"Me, are you okay? You took quite a fall there."_

The wolf looked at me, anticipating an answer, its eyes sparkling.

"Oh, man. I'm hallucinating!" I yelled. If this was a side effect of the amnesia, I was really going to suffer.

_"What are you talking about? I just asked you if you were okay."_ The wolf looked around. _"Where are we? It smells in here."_

By now I was really freaking out. I tried to ignore the voice. Just then, the girl came in with some bread. She broke the loaf in half.

"Here you go!" She said, "So, what do you remember?"

_"She's a nice one, not to bad looking either."_

"Stop that!" I yelled. The girl looked at me.

"Okay, we won't talk about it then."

"I wasn't talking to you!" I yelled, getting angry, "I was talking to the wolf!"

The girl looked around.

"What wolf?"

Now I knew I was imagining things. But hadn't the wolf brought me here?

"Nothing, what's your name?" I asked, trying to get my mind off of the crazy situation.

"Mikko," She said.

"Nice to meet you Mikko." I said.

_"Yeah, nice to meet you."_

I groaned.

"Are you okay?"

"My head hurts a little," I told her. It really did. I had a horrible headache. The world began to blur around me as, suddenly, another series of images entered my mind.

_I crawled out of the hollow in the tree, the thing was nowhere in sight. The wolf barked at me and ran back in, I turned around. There was the centipede, except this time, it had a face. A human face. I screamed as I ran in the opposite direction, and the wolf ran after me. Suddenly the ground went out from underneath my feet. I was falling, falling towards a light…_

In the real world, I screamed.


	3. Imagination or not?

Notes: A seeker, or more specifically a knowledge seeker, is a spirit in the form of a dog or coyote

Notes: A seeker, or more specifically a knowledge seeker, is a spirit in the form of a dog or coyote. Little is known about them, but they can be seen on the avatar episode 'The Library'. I took the next step into crazy town and gave this one a sense of humor and the ability to communicate through telepathy. 2 reviews 1 update.

Oh, yeah. If you read my first story you might be wondering if IT somehow found a portal to the real world in a similar manner… plz review if you like! I write these stories on paper first if you wanted to know how I publish so fast. Weird alert!

I kept screaming, the light got closer and closer, until it enveloped me completely…

Mikko was talking to me, but blood was pounding so hard in my ears I couldn't hear her. The pain in my head grew suddenly worse, and then it was over as soon as it had started.

Where were these daydreams, these images, coming from? I had no idea, but I was sure they weren't memories, they couldn't be…

"Are you okay?" Mikko asked me as the pain subsided. She looked scared.

"No," I answered, too tired to lie, "I keep seeing…things…weird things…" I put my hand to my head.

A boy suddenly came in. He looked older than Mikko and I guessed he was her brother.

"What are you screaming about?" He said to her, but then her saw me lying in the hay, "Who's this?"

"He hit his head and come in here for shelter last night from the rain. He can't remember who he is." Mikko stated.

"How do you know he isn't faking it to make you give him food and a place to stay?"

Mikko said nothing; it occurred to me that he was the dominant sibling.

"I'm getting dad!"

"No! They'll never let him stay!" Mikko pleaded.

"He shouldn't be staying! Just look at him!"

I moved farther away from them as they began a heated dispute. The wolf suddenly appeared next to me. I knew I didn't have time for hallucinations, but I talked to it.

"Uhh… hello."

"_Hello yourself." _Its mouth did not move, and I realized I had been hearing the voice in my head. "_Why were you acting so strange?"_

I knew it would be no good to fight it so I answered the question in my mind.

"I had this horribly realistic daydream about being chased by a giant black centipede through a forest." I thought.

"_But that really happened. Don't you remember? That was the face-stealer. You stumbled into his lair and he chased us."_

I really hoped I wasn't going crazy. But then again, I already had. I was talking to a figment of my imagination that no one else could see.

"Why can't the others see you?" I asked, stating the obvious of course, I knew why.

_"Because I don't want them to, it's a power I possess. This whole situation is strange indeed. I think we somehow found a way back to the real world."_

"Real world?"

_"You don't remember? How hard did you hit your head?"_

"No, I really don't." I wondered how long I would continue this conversation…

_"I knew somehow we were in the real world because you didn't get back up when you fell. You can't get hurt in the spirit world."_

"Spirit world!"

_"Yes, somehow when you died you didn't go where you were supposed to. Being a seeker I found your predicament very interesting, so I decided to follow you around."_

I couldn't believe what it was telling me! I died? I didn't end up where I was supposed? What on earth was a seeker?

_"Are you sure you don't remember? You were there for a long time you know. At first, when I found you, you didn't know where you were, so I told you and you told me in return how you died."_

"How did I die!?" I asked frantically.

Mikko stopped arguing with her brother and turned to me.

"What are you doing?" She asked. I was suddenly aware of how silly I must have looked staring at the hay like someone was there.

"Nothing," I said, "So can I stay?"

"Two days." The brother said, "That's it, any funny stuff and we tell our parents, fair enough?"

I nodded. I wondered what he meant by funny business, but Mikko answered the question for me.

"He won't steal anything!"

"He'd better not. Come on, we have chores."

I watched them leave. Mikko turned around to get one last look at me before she left. I wondered if she liked me…

_"Don't even think about it." It was the wolf, "Want to know how you died now?"_

"No, I'll wait for my memories to return. There has to be a logical explanation for this. You, my friend, are a hallucination."

_"So you must be a nut then?"_

"At least I'm not imaginary!" I yelled. Great, I was fighting with myself…

"_That's it! I'll prove it to you!"_ It said, and then bit my hand.

I began to bleed.


	4. A Life Remembered

Notes: This story contains no characters from Avatar except the face stealer, the seeker, and Aang

Notes: This story contains no characters from Avatar except the face stealer, the seeker, and Aang. Jet plays no role! He is not a character in this story! I write about my own made up characters, as stated on my account page. It's weird, I know, but also fun and creative. I might not have thought out the plots of my stories well enough, admittedly. My other stories have so many flaws I can't believe I have any fans at all! But to those who stuck with me, I say this:

You, my friends, are strange indeed.

Now, prepare for my weirdest work yet! Please tell me it makes sense! I now have 15 planned chapters…

Please, for the sake of the story review!! I crave reviews!! Two a chapter isn't enough!!

I looked at my bleeding hand in shock. It was real blood, that meant that everything the wolf, the seeker, had said had been the truth. It hadn't all been a delusion. For a moment I simply stared at my hand in awe. I didn't want to believe it, I just… couldn't.

"_Now do you believe me?" _It said, wagging its tail.

"So," I began, "I died, got stuck in the spirit forest, met you, got chased by the face stealer, and fell through a portal back to the real world?"

"_Don't forget, you lost your memory."_

"This is weird." I said. I was sure that there were a lot of questions that needed to be asked at this point, but I had no idea what they were. "What is a seeker?"

"_A seeker is a spirit that searches for knowledge. In fact they are all around you except you just can't see them. You can only see them if they want you to or if you look for them; otherwise they are all but invisible."_

"Are there any here?"

"_No. Only me."_

"I still don't feel better."

"_Neither do I."_

"Why?" I asked. It occurred to me that the seeker was the closest thing I had to family right now. Did I even have family?

"_Well, when you fell through this 'portal', you should have come back to the real world a spirit, after all, you are dead. But instead you were a human again. But how can that be? Your body is dead and buried."_

Again, I had the urge to ask it to tell me how I had died. But something inside was suddenly telling me I needed to find that out on my own instead of having someone, or in this case, something, tell me. I would wait until I remembered. Suddenly, something about what the seeker had just said clicked in my mind.

"Wait!" I yelled, "That's it! We need to go to my grave and see what's there!" I couldn't believe I had just said something so ridiculous, but the blood on my hand proved that the seeker was real; I would just have to deal with it.

The seeker looked up at me, clearly interested.

"_Except we don't know where, or even if, you were buried."_

Again, the strangeness of the conversation boggled me, but I kept my cool.

"Wait, you said I told you how I died, so I must have told you my name, what's my name?"

The seeker must have realized I wanted to find out about my death myself, so it answered.

_"That's just it. By the time I found you, you had already lost your memory of a name. You only kept your most important memories. Being in the spirit world, you didn't need a name, so you forgot it after a while."_

"How long was I there?" I asked, panicking.

_"I don't know, ten, maybe fifteen years."_

"Fifteen years!"

_"Not a very long time in the spirit world."_

"Wait a minute," I said, trying to turn the conversation away from the fact I had been in the spirit forest so long, "you said that seekers search for information in the real world, so why were you in the spirit world?"

_"That's none of your business!"_ The seeker snarled. I wondered if I had said something to offend it. _"Someone's coming." _It said, and disappeared.

Mikko came into the barn. I once again realized how pretty she was.

"We're leaving for town, so you'll be left alone. I just wanted to make sure you knew."

"I'll be okay."

"Remember anything yet?" She asked. I realized I still didn't know anything about my human life.

"No, not really." I lied.

"Okay then," she said as I heard her brother yelling her name outside, "I have to go, take care of yourself."

"I will."

She ran out of the barn just as the seeker appeared at my side.

_"You really like her, don't you?"_

"That's none of your business." I said, in the same tone it had.

_"Touché."_

"You don't act like a spirit, you act like a kid."

_"So do you."_

"Touché."

We were both silent for a while as we stood side by side, facing the barn door. I didn't really know what to do at this point. All I could do was wait until my memories returned.

Which was exactly what they did.

At first, my head began to hurt again, but this time it felt as if my head were splitting in two. And then…

I was walking out of the barn. A woman ran over and hugged me tightly. "Oh, son." She said, "I don't know how much longer we can pay the soldier's taxes." I patted her back lightly. "Since your father died, I…I…" She began to cry into my shoulder. "This war, it's terrible, I just wish it were over. But there is hope. The Avatar is alive."

I snapped out of it. The woman had been my mother, I realized. I wondered if she was still alive. Suddenly my head hurt even worse as images passed by faster and faster. I lay down on the barn floor. My life began to come back to me, every aspect of my childhood. I was fifteen years old. My father had died when I was young. Our kingdom was at war with the Fire Nation, and I lived on…

This very farm.

"I remember now!" I yelled, once I had recovered from the pain and the initial shock of having my memories return so quickly.

_"Your name?"_

I stopped for a second. Oddly, I still couldn't remember my name. How could I remember who I was and still not remember my own name? How was that even possible? I explained what I had remembered to the seeker. It took nearly an hour to explain my childhood. By the time I had finished I realized what had just happened. I remembered who I was!

_"Ah, the war,"_ The seeker said, _"I remember researching that for the scrolls. Apparently it lasted longer than anyone thought it would, if it was still going when you were alive."_

"So you do know about it? How could you if you were in the spirit world?"

_"That was before I was…"_

"What?"

_"Nothing."_ It said. Suddenly, Mikko entered the barn.

"Where did that animal come from?" She asked.

My mouth dropped open in surprise.

She could see the seeker…

TBC

Extra notes: If this was too weird for you, tell me and I can rewrite it for you. I need all the help I can get! Please review! Thanks for reading!


	5. Mikko And A Nightmare

Notes: This chapter goes out to…flowermasters, and her story, Betrayal

Notes: This chapter goes out to…flowermasters, and her story, Betrayal. She is an aspiring writer so if you have the time, R&R her story would ya? Anyway, here it is, the long awaited (By me) chapter 5 where Mikko becomes more than just a friend…

To supercdogg95, who wanted to see if Mikko would... well, just read!

8

The two of us stared at Mikko for what seemed like an eternity. I had no idea what was going through the seeker's mind, but it was probably the same thing I was thinking. How, in the name of all things unexplainable, could Mikko see the seeker? I was sure that it wasn't because the seeker wanted her too.

"Well?" She asked, "Where did it come from?"

Again, there was a long silence. The seeker looked uncomfortably at me.

"_How can she see me?"_ The seeker asked.

"Who said that?" Mikko asked suddenly.

"_She can hear me too?"_

"Who said that?"

I ran to Mikko and put my hands on her shoulders.

"Mikko, I know this is probably going to sound strange…" I began. I felt like she deserved to know. It would probably be hard to convince her I was telling the truth, but then again, the seeker was right there in front of her. Suddenly Mikko's brother appeared, and, when he saw my hands on Mikko's shoulders, charged.

He tackled me and we both fell to the ground. He was the same height as me but had more muscle from doing farm work all his life. The wind was knocked out of me and I gasped as her tried to punch my face.

"Get off my sister!" He yelled as I pushed him off me with my legs. When I stood I he charged again, knocking me to the ground.

"Leave him alone!" Mikko cried, but neither of us was listening. The seeker made its way over to Mikko as we fought and, unbeknownst to me, started to explain the situation.

We fought for several more minutes, dodging, tackling, shoving, until finally I grabbed a pitchfork and pinned him against the wall, the pitchfork aimed at his neck. He stopped struggling, afraid of being struck by the sharp tool.

"I was just trying to talk to her!" I said, trying to calm him down, "You didn't have to go berserk on me!" My lip was bleeding and my shoulder was bruised from hitting the ground.

He just kept staring at the pitchfork aimed at his neck. Although I didn't know it, Mikko and the seeker were still talking behind me.

"Okay! Okay! Just put it down!" He yelled, putting his hands in the air above his head. I lowered it as Mikko ran between us.

"Stop fighting!" She said to her brother.

"But…"

"He was just trying to tell me something, now get out!"

"But Mikko… I thought he was…"

"Go! And make sure Mom and Dad didn't hear you two fighting."

He finally nodded and left in a huff. Mikko turned to me.

"Your friend told me everything." She said. I saw the seeker behind her. "I've never… I've never heard of something so… strange."

"Yeah, well. It's the truth." I told her. I couldn't believe the seeker had told her everything. And why could Mikko see it if it didn't want her too?

That night, Mikko got her brother to give me some of his clothes to change into, and I told her about what I remembered. She told me her parents were suspicious about her spending so much time in the barn, but not too suspicious. She told me about how the Avatar had ended the war after I had died, and then she asked if I was going to stay.

"Actually," I told her, "I have to go."

"What do you mean? Can't you at least stay until you remember your name?"

"That's just it. I think I need to figure that out on my own. I need to know why I'm human, and not a spirit. I need to know if my mother is still alive. I can't stay here Mikko, it's your home now, not mine." I realized I was beginning to cry and wiped the tears away. I didn't want her to see me like this.

"I understand." She said, and then kissed me.

From my childhood memories I remembered, I was sure that I had never been kissed before by anyone other than my mother, and not on the lips. It wasn't a short kiss either; it lasted until the seeker began to get annoyed.

"_Are you guys going to be stuck like that forever?" _It said sarcastically, _"Because this is getting awkward. I can't stand human affection."_

Mikko finally stopped kissing me. She looked embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, I…"

"It's okay." I reassured her. The seeker began to gag loudly.

"Good night Mikko." I said, ignoring the seeker, "You should get some sleep."

She smiled and began to leave.

"Wait," She said, turning around, "I'm sorry about my brother."

"That's okay, he was just trying to protect you." I said. It struck me that I had been an only child.

She looked reassured, but I could tell she still had one question left to ask, a question that I didn't know if I could answer.

"Will you ever come back?"

I opened my mouth to answer her, but unfortunately the seeker answered her inquiry for me.

_"Yes, he's going to return and marry you and you'll have a bunch of kids and let yourself go. I've seen it all before."_

She blushed and left the barn, too embarrassed to speak.

That night I dreamt of many things, but I only remembered one terrible nightmare…

_I was digging my grave up, looking for answers, when the shovel struck something hard. I reached into the dirt to pick it up. It was a human skull. My skull. Suddenly my clothes were covered in blood, and I could hear my mother screaming in the distance…_

I awoke covered in a cold sweat. The seeker, not needing to sleep, was looking at me.

_"You were tossing and turning all night."_ It said. _"What were you dreaming about, Mikko?"_

"I had a nightmare." I answered, embarrassed at its question.

_"Are you sure it wasn't a memory?"_

"Positive." I said, and then I hugged the seeker. I don't know why I did it, it just happened.

_"What are you doing!?"_ It yelped.

"I hugged you."

The seeker looked deep into my eyes. I could almost see its wisdom.

_"Well, spirits don't have time for such things, so never do it again."_

"I'm sorry."

_"Do you want to know how I ended up in the spirit world?"_ It asked. The question caught me off guard. In the short time I had known it, the seeker had been very protective of its own past.

"Okay!" I answered, not wanting to miss the opportunity to learn more about it.

_"I broke the most important rule of the seekers, I interfered with worldly events. You see, a seekers job is to watch the human world, and then if we see something interesting or important, we return to a place in the desert know as the Spirit Library. A great spirit of knowledge in the form of a giant owl lives there; it taps into our memories and records only the important information in the scrolls. That is what we are summoned for."_

I nodded, trying to make sense of what it was telling me.

_"Well, about fifty years ago, I saw a young girl being attacked by a Fire Nation soldier. I couldn't just watch, so I attacked him. Of course, the great Owl was very angry with me, and so I was banished to the spirit forest, for saving the life of a young girl."_

I smiled, so it did have a heart. I was suddenly angry at this, 'Owl'.

_"When I met you, I really thought I had found someone like me, someone who had been banished unfairly. When we fell through the portal, I nearly left you, but then I realized that I had no place to go. At least you were a spirit like me. When I realized you weren't, that you were in fact a living human being, I was shocked. You being a human defied all known laws of the universe. So I thought, maybe, if I brought you back to the library, after you found your mother…"_

I understood what it was saying. I was its ticket back to the library.

"We'll discuss that later. First let's focus on finding my mother, if she's still alive."

The seeker nodded its head.

A few hours, I was standing outside, looking at the house Mikko lived in, and I had used to live in. On my back was the pack she had given me. The sun was beginning to rise already and Mikko's family would be up any minute.

"I guess we should go now." I told the seeker.

_"Well then, let's go."_

We began to walk down the hill towards town, in search of answers.

TBC

Extra notes: Don't forget to R&R flowermasters story, Betrayal.


	6. The Village

Notes: I know by now only two people are following this story, you two know who you are, don't you

Notes: I know by now only two people are following this story, you two know who you are, don't you? I crave reviews! Supercdogg95, where have you gone? I moss your reviews…

All right, that's not gonna work huh? Just rate this chapter from 1 to 5 and the whole story from 1 to 5 in your review to help me work. It would be appreciated. Thanks!

The village was small and close knit, so I was sure that it would be easy to find some old lady who would know who had lived on the farm before I had died. I felt strange, I knew who I was, except for my name, and I knew the strange story of how I had arrived, but for some reason I felt as if something bigger than that were missing, something much more important than a name. What was I supposed to say if someone asked me who I was? And even worse, another question plagued me. If I had died, then how was I human and not a spirit or ghost? Hadn't I been buried? I should be a walking skeleton!

"_We're going to the graveyard first." _The seeker said.

"No, we're going to the village first to find out which grave is mine." I reminded it.

"_Oh, yeah."_

It should have seemed odd that I was traveling with an invisible wolf spirit, but I was too concerned with finding out if my mother was alive to focus much on the weirdness of it all.

It was a busy day in the little village, and people were rushing about buying their vegetables from the stalls with their children in tow.

"_So what now?" _The seeker asked, _"We look for the oldest lady we can find?"_

"They don't have to be that old! Just old enough to remember."

I stopped at a stall where a middle-aged woman was selling cabbages.

"Hello," I asked, "Do you remember who used to live on that hill?"

She shook her head and told me she was new in the village and wouldn't know. She had no idea there even was a farm on the hill. So she couldn't help me.

"Well, that was a complete waste of time…" I grumbled.

"_You didn't expect the first person you ask to know did you?" _The seeker asked.

We went around asking for a while until and old woman finally told us. She was selling clay pots.

"Yes, I do." She said slowly, "A widow used to live up there with her son."

"What happened to them?" I asked, trying to keep my cool.

"She moved away, to a town two miles east of here called Banigish, escept her son wasn't with her."

"What happened to him, what was his name?"

"I don't remember, I'm sorry. The woman's name was Rosa, when she left the town suffered terribly. She was an herbal healer and gave us medicine when our children fell ill. You know, you look a little like her son, he always adored the pots I made…" She trailed off and I left the stall, barely able to contain my happiness.

"_So, you know where your mother is, are you happy now?"_

In truth I was, but I wasn't about to let the seeker know.

"Oh great!" I yelled, so loudly that several villagers turned to see me, "I just realized she didn't know I died, so we're gonna have to ask someone else where I was buried."

"_Sounds weird to say, doesn't it?"_

Suddenly a tall old man came over to us. He was still strong in his old age and looked as if he had worked on a farm most of his life.

"Were you asking Kaana about the family up on the hill?" He asked in his gravelly voice.

"Yeah."

"The one that left about fifteen years ago?"

"Yup."

"I don't know where they went, but I helped Rosa raise her pigs."

"Do you know where her son was buried?" I asked, and then decided to make a little fib, "I'm a relative and our family was separated during the war, we're still trying to find out what happened to them. Rosa was my aunt, you see."

"Ah, yes, nasty business that. She buried him behind the house. It was very private actually. Say, you look kind of like him, son."

"Family resemblance." I muttered as I walked away.

I was so amazed that I knew where I was buried and where my mother might be that I sat down on the steps of a house while the man left, and in only one day, I had found out everything! I watched the people walk by for a while and wondered if every day was the same for them, it certainly wasn't for me! I was in such a surprised state that I realized I had forgotten to ask him if he knew my name.

"_That was stupid." _The seeker said, reading my thoughts.

"He's already long gone." I said. There was no way I was going to find him again if he had gone home.

"_So what now?" _The seeker inquired.

"Well, I'm torn between going back and going to Banigish."

"We should go back to check out the grave first, I need the evidence for when we go back to the library."

I didn't comment on this. The seeker had its ambitions, and I had mine.

"_Do you want to know how you died now?"_

"No! I'm not giving you that victory." I said. I was afraid to go back to the farm; because it would be uncomfortable to say the least if Mikko's parents spotted me. I had nowhere to stay for the night either. Banigish was two days away, and I had no way of getting there.

"Where do you think you're going?" Said a cruel voice from behind me as I stood up. I turned around. There were two boys who looked like thugs snickering loudly. "Give us your money or we break your neck!"

Suddenly, the seeker appeared and lunged at him.

TBC


	7. Revalations Uncovered

Notes: WARNING! This chapter is very sad! Read and review at your own risk! It is also chapter 7, which is exactly how many I promised, but as you can see, it is far from over. There are now 14 planned chapters! Woot! I have a forum dedicated to my stories, so visit it if you can…

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The boy tried to knock the seeker away, but it disappeared and reappeared behind him and growled. I watched as the two brutes began to freak out as the seeker was seemingly all around them, nipping at their heels. They finally realized I wasn't worth the trouble and ran off, screaming about a ghost dog at the top of their lungs. If the seeker had saved me by showing itself to humans, the very thing that had caused its banishment, I must mean a lot to it…

I had thought that after it had told me its past that it was only with me to get its job back as a seeker, but now I realized…

"You saved me!"

_"Yeah well, I wouldn't have much to take back to the library if they beat you to a pulp, would I?"_

I nodded. That was exactly what I had expected it to say. There was no way it was going to admit it.

_"Its just business. Nothing personal."_

But I knew that it had saved me for another reason. A much more personal reason indeed. I was its only friend. I was pretty sure that such a companionship had never occurred before between a human and a seeker.

_"Well, we can't go back up to the farm and risk being caught, so where are we going to stay for the night?"_

The seeker came as close as possible to frowning with a dog's face. It looked almost comical. I nearly laughed.

_"I really don't know."_ It said.

It occurred to me suddenly that I must have died on the farm and told the seeker, or else it wouldn't have known to take me there for shelter from the rain the night I had fallen through the portal...

"Do you have a name?" I asked it. I didn't know why, but I had the sudden urge to ask. I had been dying to know, but hadn't found the right time to ask.

_"I'm a spirit, we do not need 'names'. We are not pets. We do not eat, we do not sleep."_

"Sounds like the perfect pet to me."

_"Excuse me?"_

"Uhh… I said… Sounds like a great place to be."

_"Where?"_

I paused for a moment. I had no comeback for that one.

_"Well, you don't have a name, and neither do I. One other thing we have in common."_

"I have a name! I just can't remember."

We both sat on the steps of the house until the hustle and bustle of the morning had died down. I should have been bored, but I had nothing else to do. Besides, it was fun to watch the people of the village carry on with their daily lives. That was when I saw Mikko, she was shopping with her parents, looking at the pots the old lady named Kaana had made.

"Hide!" I yelled out, instead of thinking it.

_"I don't have to."_

"Yes you do! She can see you!" We both hid behind the house. I looked around the corner. She looked sad, almost as if she had wanted to say goodbye to me before I had left. Maybe she was going to…

_"Forget about her! We need to go back to the farm and check out the grave before they get back!"_

I agreed. If they were shopping I had the perfect window of opportunity to check out the grave. We headed toward the farm on the hill. I wondered why I had wanted to hide from Mikko. It seemed so stupid to me now. She wouldn't have done anything if she had seen me. Not in front of her parents…

Half an hour later, we had arrived at the farm. I was sweaty and exhausted, so I took the loaf of bread Mikko had given me out of my pack. It was slightly stale, but I wolfed it down anyway. I knew Mikko and her parents could arrive at any moment, so I had to check out the grave quick.

The seeker however, wasn't tired at all, being a spirit.

_"Humans, always tired…"_

We went to the back of the house after I had grabbed a shovel from the barn. The only thing that remotely resembled a marker was a large white stone as big as the seeker. I wondered how my mother could have gotten it there…

_"Well, let's start digging."_ The seeker said, and started digging. Almost by instinct, dog instinct.

I remembered my dream and was afraid at what I would find. What if there were bones? But I was right here, how could that be possible? Every time I struck something hard I flinched, but it always turned out to be a rock. I became increasingly aware of how much time was passing, and imagined what would happen if Mikko's parents saw a strange boy digging behind their house…

Finally, we stopped. We had dug a hole six feet deep and three feet wide. There was nothing there but rocks. I felt exhausted and wiped my hand over my sweaty brow. None of this made sense anymore. And for the first time I wondered if this was some sort of nightmare. I crawled out of the hole and lay on the gound. Every muscle in my body hurt terribly.

The seeker too, finally gave up. It sniffed the dirt one last time and appeared next to me.

_"Well, things just keep getting stranger…"_

For the first time I could remember the seeker was at a loss for words. There was nothing I could say. The whole situation was impossible, and yet, I had expected something to be revealed when I finished digging up the grave. Some question had to be answered. I couldn't have just… come back to life. And then, my head started to hurt as the world began to blur around me. Suddenly, I was in the house…

_My mother was at the door, crying out, "Zerek, we don't have any more money. We've given you all we have. Please, I'm just a widow…"The man forced his way into the house. She tried to push him back, but he slapped her across the face and she crumpled to the floor. I ran over to help her up. I heard myself yelling at the men, but the one called Zerek pushed me to the floor. I got back up and punched his face as hard as I could. One of the soldiers shoved me off him as the other rammed his spear into my chest. I fell to the ground as my shirt became covered in blood. My blood. I could hear the soldiers threatening my mother as she cried. They finally left, and my mother bent over me and cried out,_

_"Jack! Jack! Don't leave me alone!" Her tears fell onto my face like raindrops._

_And then, there was darkness._


End file.
